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Health Studies

The most up-to-date research on food, nutrition and healthy lifestyle. Oldways’ health studies database contains hundreds of peer-reviewed studies showing the links between traditional diets and good health. Filters let you ﬁnd just the data you need to support your work.

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Following a Mediterranean-Inspired Diet Linked with 30% Lower Risk of Hearing Loss in Women

Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the US, so scientists wonder if there might be a relationship between diet and hearing over time. To test this relationship, researchers followed more than 81,000 women for 2 decades, tracking their eating patterns and health outcomes. Those most closely following a Mediterranean-inspired diet were 30% less likely to develop hearing loss over the 20-year study than those not following a Mediterranean diet. Similarly, people whose diets closely adhered to a DASH diet or the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (both of which also prioritize vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and limit red meat and sweets), were also less likely to develop hearing loss over time.Journal of Nutrition. 2018 May 11. (Curhan SG et al.) [Epub ahead of print]

Compared with other cooking oils, olive oil has a relatively low smoke point, leading some to wonder how this might impact its healthfulness. In this study, researchers analyzed 10 common cooking oils by heating them up across diﬀerent temperatures and for diﬀerent periods of time and analyzing their stability and the production any potentially harmful compounds (such as polar compounds). Interestingly, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil produced signiﬁcantly lower levels of harmful polar compounds than the other oils, while reﬁned vegetable oils (canola, grapeseed, and rice bran oils) produced the most. Since these experiments were done on the oils themselves, without food, more research is needed to see how cooking diﬀerent foods in diﬀerent oils might impact the production of harmful compounds.ACTA Scientiﬁc Nutritional Health. 2018 May 5;2(6):2-11. (Guillaume C et al.)

Many public health campaigns focus on fruit and vegetable intake, but perhaps a wiser approach would be to expand the focus to whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Researchers analyzed Canadian eating habits against dietary recommendations, and then calculated the disease burden attributable to not meeting speciﬁc dietary guidelines. From there, they were able to calculate the direct (hospital visits, medicine, etc.) and indirect (labor) costs associated with not meeting speciﬁc dietary recommendations. They found that $13.8 billion (in CAD) per year can be attributed to an unhealthy diet, which is more than the economic burden of not getting enough exercise (at $9.3 billion). Additionally, they found that not getting enough whole grains and not getting enough nuts and seeds were the two biggest contributors to this cost, at $3.3 billion each.PLoS One. 2018 Apr 27;13(4):e0196333. (Lieﬀers JRL et al.)

Switching to Whole Grains Can Reduce Abdominal Fat

Visceral fat is a dangerous type of abdominal fat that can surround vital organs like the liver. To see if grain choices might play a role in this fat distribution, researchers randomly assigned 50 Japanese men with a BMI of 23 or greater (midway through the “healthy weight” range or heavier) to a diet with whole grain bread or white bread for 12 weeks, and had their visceral fat estimated using tomography scans. After the 12-week study, the whole grain group lost 4 cm of visceral fat around their middle, while the white bread group showed no signiﬁcant changes.Plant Foods and Human Nutrition. 2018 Apr 18. [Epub ahead of print.] (Kikuchi Y et al.)

Reﬁned wheat and rice noodles are common staple foods throughout Asia today, so replacing some of these foods with whole grain versions could go a long way in improving health. To test the impact, researchers randomly assigned 84 healthy adults (some with mildly high cholesterol) in Taiwan to an oat noodle group or a reﬁned wheat noodle group, providing them with 100 grams (about 1 ½ cups cooked) of their respective noodles across 1 or 2 meals each day for 10 weeks. After the 10-week study, the oat group reduced their total cholesterol by 17% and LDL-c (“bad”) cholesterol by 19% compared with the wheat noodle group. The oat noodle group also signiﬁcantly lowered their blood pressure by 7-11%, but the wheat noodle group did not. The beneﬁts tended to be stronger in people who started the study with slightly high cholesterol, but the results were still statistically signiﬁcant for the group as a whole.Journal of Food and Drug Analysis. 2018 April. [Epub ahead of print.] (Liao MY et al.)

Cruciferous Veggies Linked with Less Plaque Build Up in Arteries

If you want to keep your arteries in tip-top shape, you may want to add an extra helping of broccoli or Brussels sprouts to your meals. In a study of more than 900 older women (ages 70+), those consuming 3 or more servings of vegetables each day had lower levels of plaque in their arteries (as measured by CCA-IMT). When looking at the diﬀerent types of vegetables, cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliﬂower, Brussels sprouts, kale, and bok choy) had the strongest relationship, as each 10 gram serving was linked with 0.8% less plaque (as measured by CCA-IMT).Journal of the American Heart Association. 2018 Apr 4;7(8). (Blekkenhorst LC et al.).

Protein from Nuts and Seeds Linked with Less Death from Heart Disease than Protein from Meat

Protein is important for our muscles, enzymes, and numerous essential body processes, but not all protein is created equal. To see how diﬀerent protein sources relate to heart disease deaths, researchers carefully analyzed the diets of 81,337 men and women. Those getting more protein from nuts and seeds were signiﬁcantly less likely to die from heart disease than those not getting as much protein from nuts and seeds. On the other hand, those getting more protein from animal sources had a higher risk of dying from heart disease. The relationship between heart disease death and these foods was so strong, even after controlling for other diet and lifestyle factors, that the researchers concluded that the link “could not be ascribed to other associated nutrients considered to be important for cardiovascular health.”International Journal of Epidemiology. 2018 Apr 2. [Epub ahead of print] (Tharrey M et al.)

Researchers analyzed the eating habits of 8,433 adults in Singapore who were of Chinese, Malay, and Indian ethnicity. Despite the wide variety in food preferences among these diﬀerent ethnic groups, researchers were able to identify a common healthy eating pattern based on fruits, vegetables, dairy, wholegrain breads, breakfast cereals, unsaturated cooking oils; and low in fast food, sweetened beverages, meat, and ﬂavored rice. Those most closely following the healthy eating pattern were more likely to have a lower BMI, smaller waist size, and lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and triglycerides (another type of fat in the blood).Journal of Nutrition. 2018 Apr 1;148(4):616-623. (Whitton C. et al.)

Mediterranean Diet Linked with Less Fat in Liver

Fatty liver is most commonly associated with alcoholism, but obesity and excess body fat can be risk factors for fatty liver as well (which can eventually develop into liver disease). In a study of 1,521 adults, those most closely following a Mediterranean diet were signiﬁcantly less likely to have fatty liver in the following year. Speciﬁcally, each 1-point increase on the Mediterranean diet score was linked with 26% lower odds of developing fatty liver the next year. Diets reﬂecting the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (another diet scoring tool that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and limits red meat and sweets) were also linked with a smaller, but still signiﬁcantly lower risk of fatty liver.Gastroenterology. 2018 Mar 28. [Epub ahead of print]. (Ma J et al.)

Beans, Grains, and Fiber Linked with Lower Risk of Breast Cancer

It’s important to get your ﬁber from a variety of foods, since diﬀerent sources of ﬁber are associated with diﬀerent health beneﬁts. Researchers analyzed the eating patterns of 2,135 patients with breast cancer and 2,571 controls to see how diﬀerent foods and ﬁbers might relate to breast cancer risk. Those eating the most ﬁber (more than 26.5 grams per day) were 25% less likely to have breast cancer than those eating less than 15.2 grams of ﬁber per day. Similarly, those eating the most beans (more than 3.9 oz per day) and grains (more than 13.8 oz per day, of both whole and reﬁned grains) were 19% and 18% less likely to have breast cancer, respectively, than those eating the least amount of beans and grains.Cancer Medicine. 2018 Mar 23. [Epub ahead of print] (Sangaramoorthy M et al.)

Mediterranean Diet Linked with Healthier Bones and Muscles After Menopause

Women lose bone mass during menopause, so strategies to prevent osteoporosis in this population are of utmost importance. In a study of 103 post-menopausal women (average age 55), researchers analyzed their diet and body composition. Most closely following a Mediterranean diet was linked with better muscle mass and greater spine bone mineral density than those not eating Mediterranean foods like olive oil, ﬁsh, and grains. (Note that ﬁndings presented at meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.)Presented at ENDO 2018: The Endocrine Society Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois. March 20, 2018.